Guides Archive

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Windows Phone 8 Start Screen “Hands On”

It’s come to our attention that not everyone is sold on the new Windows Phone 8 start screen. Some people are claiming it’s to cluttered, or maybe even suffocating. This may come from the fact that its not your start screen, and with that comes some unfamiliarity. Maybe if you could give it a test drive you would change your tune. Here’s a little experiment to help ease your mind. Save one or all of these images to your phone, or SkyDrive, and then view the images on your phone. This gives you a full screen, hands on look at what Windows Phone 8  will look like. Hit the jump for all the images! Read the rest of this entry »

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Switching to a new Windows Phone? Microsoft has a couple of tips on transferring contacts and more.

Microsoft people always look so photogenic.

It can be a chore to move from phone to phone. There are all these contacts, photos, apps and all kinds of things you need to worry about transferring to your new rig. Sometimes, the store you buy your new phone from can help with these things, but otherwise, follow these paraphrased tips from Microsoft:

Moving apps

Getting your old apps on your new phone shouldn’t be a problem if you’ll use the same Windows Live ID for both. After you’ve done that, simply head to My Phone, log in, and ta-dah! All you’re Marketplace apps are ready to be reinstalled. Even that’s not much of a chore if you get the Reinstaller app.

Moving contacts

Your contacts are usually stored in the cloud on different online services: Hotmail, Facebook, Gmail and so on. You just need to add any of your accounts on your new phone and the contacts automatically appear in the People Hub. If your contacts are kept elsewhere, take a look at this other guide.

Moving music, photos and videos

To easily move your media to the new platform, sync your phone with your computer. This way, everything will be safely copied to your hard drive. One way to do this is to install the Zune software and following these instructions.

Source: Windows Phone Blog

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Want to build an app? Check out these guides!

So the story begins...

If you’ve ever wanted to develop a Windows Phone app but didn’t know where to start, worry no more. Microsoft has some handy guides for you to find out more about the process and get your work going. The guides themselves seem pretty concise, but they also have many links to example code, tutorial videos and all kinds of resources.

Aspiring developers should definitely check them out, even if you’re an absolute beginner. Everyone has to start somewhere and these guides are a great way to understand Windows Phone development. Reach for the stars, new developers! We look forward to playing your games and using your apps soon!

…unless, of course, they are really, really bad. Just remember not to give up even if that happens!